4th worm tower out and more compost added

Beautiful day again today, before the next winter storm hits this weekend.  Wonderful opportunity to work in the patio garden.

I removed the 4th worm tower today -- in one of the 18-gallon totes that's going to be home to a indeterminate tomato plant next spring.  I saw a worm in it, a thin but long one, not as fat as some that I've seen but definitely healthy.  But it was inside the worm tower so they definitely do work.  I dumped it out with the contents of the worm bin. I didn't see any other worms as I was working in the tote, but I wasn't looking for them.

I added some fresh table scraps -- a couple banana peels and some egg shells -- and dug up all the contents and tossed it about.  The bottom part is composting well, and I see less and less of added composting materials.  So it is doing the job as I counted on.

I then added more composting material -- shredded paper and wettened and crushed leaves.  Except I didn't do a very good job of crushing these leaves.  I added a layer of each and then dug up the soil again to mix them in lightly with the soil so they would compost faster.  I also added some water to the shredded paper, even though the leaves were wet, so I could add some moisture to the tote.

I covered the tote up again with the black plastic, but as I did with the first 3 totes, I did not put the white bag back in it and I kept the worm tower out for the rest of the winter.

Over the last two days I've been working with a bag of leaves that I took out of one of the totes and crushing the leaves.  I've reduced the volume in the bag about 2/3.  I'll do the same with the remaining leaves that I have that are still dry.  I don't have a mechanical way to shred the leaves, so I am using my feet and hands.  The cloth bags protect me from being scratched or punctured with the small twigs that the leaves are attached to, and they don't tear, whereas the plastic bags will tear.

I've also been converting my dowel pieces from cutting down the dowels used as stakes for the totes into shavings, which I can add to my compost materials.

I'm thinking about putting in a fence along the front edge to make the porch more attractive, and then thought, the fence would prevent the plants from getting full sun next spring/summer, so I thought maybe I would put up a fence only to the height of the bins.  I think I'll do a white picket-type fence.  The panels I had on 3rd floor come in 4-foot heights IIRC, and I can have them cut to any length and height I want, as 4-feet will be too tall for what I want.